Houston— January 11, 2019— Today
the Transgender Foundation of America (TFA) announced that the Transgender
Disaster Relief Fund (TDRFund.us) would accept applications for assistance from
LGBTQI and allied federal workers whose lives were thrown into chaos due to
President Trump’s 2018-2019 partial shutdown of the government. Alexis Melvin,
President of TFA said, “Many LGBTQI individuals and our allies are effected by
the partial government shutdown. The sudden loss of income through no fault of
their own can create very difficult situations and TDRFund.us will provide
whatever support we can to these individuals.”

About the Transgender Disaster Relief Fund

The
Trans Disaster Relief is a project TFA, a 501c3 public charity, and was
initially set up as a response to Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Since Hurricane
Harvey numerous other disasters, ranging from other hurricanes to earthquakes
and wildfires, have been added to the TDRFund.us support list.

Cristan Williams, a co-founder of the
Transgender Disaster Relief Fund said, “We’ve
made the application extremely simple and straightforward. We want the affected
community to know that we stand with them in their time of need.” To apply for assistance or
make a donation, individuals should go to the TDRFund.us website.

About TFA

Organized
in 1998, the Transgender Foundation of America (TFA) is a Houston-based
grassroots 501c3 public charity and exists to improve the lives of transgender
people. TFA facilitates numerous trans support groups and community events such
as the Unity Banquet, now in its 26th year. Additionally, it maintains the
Transgender Archive and provides annual scholarships to trans-supportive
academics, represents transgender and intersex health concerns with health
departments across the nation, trains organizations, companies, and schools
throughout the nation and pioneered trans and intersex homeless, social, and
medical services.

Trudie Jackson a member of the Navajo Nation and identifies as a 5th gender person. Her clans are Bitterwater and Folded Arms People, then the Mexican People and Yucca Strung Out In A Line. Originally from Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, but currently reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is a 2nd year doctoral student at the University of New Mexico in American Studies with researching focusing on American Indian Transgender Women in Urban Areas.

Trudie has been a community activist and social justice advocate by standing up for communities of color inclusion in spaces often occupied by non-person of color including American Indians. She founded the Southwest American Indian Rainbow Gatheirng, which is currently in its 8th year in Phoenix, Arizona that addresses health disparities of American Indians that identify as Two Spirit (SLGBTQ). Her tireless advocacy lead to receiving the Marty Prairie Red Ribbon Award from the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center in 2008 for her strong voice, action, and leadership in tribal (urban/rural) communities. In 2017, she was awarded the Equality Arizona Skip Schrader Spirit of Activism Award at the It Gets Better Conference in Tucson, Arizona. Since relocating to Albuquerque, New Mexico, she is a Board member for the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico. Recently presented at TPATH in Vancouver, BC, Canada in 2017 by sharing her experience of utilizing the Indian Health Service as an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe of the US.

Trudie’s educational journey would not have been possible without the financial assistance from the Phoenix Pride Scholarship, Udall Foundation Scholar in 2011, American Indian Services, Office of Navajo Nation Student Financial Assistance (ONNSFA), and Teec Nos Pos Student Chapter Financial Assistance. She is a four time POINT Foundation Semifinalist and continues to apply to one day become a POINT Scholar.

Trudie’s journey as an American Indian transgender women by walking in Two Worlds has been challenging, but has always followed her motto: determination, motivation, perseverance, and resilience.

Trudie is a candidate in the Navajo Nation Presidential election as the first Navajo transgender women running for the highest office of the Navajo Nation. She has continued to break down barriers by being an inspiration to all transgender people.

Wednesday…
The truck will be at Narragansett Town Beach from 6-8 this evening – come look at the waves!
The shop will be open 1-9 today…
Today and tomorrow (Thurs) we will be donating 10% of ice cream related sales to two groups doing relief work in Texas.
Donations will support Austin Pets Alive! – they are helping hundreds of animals right now – check their page – it’s mind boggling! Donations will also support TFA Houston / The Trans Disaster Relief Fund.
Thank you for coming in!

The fund will directly assist Gulf Coast trans, intersex, and genderqueer survivors recover from this disaster

Speaking about the Trans Disaster Relief Fund, Buck Angel urged the trans and supportive communities to support trans, intersex, and genderqueer community members survive Hurrican Harvey, “We must care for our own right now.”

Recent attacks by lawmakers have resulted in heightened hostility against local trans people. The Trans Disaster Relief Fund, will be used to help our historically underserved community recover from this catastrophic event. If needed, the fund will also assist with burial costs for community members who’ve lost their lives in this historic disaster.

The Texas Gulf Coast trans community is facing a catastrophic and ongoing natural disaster resulting from Hurricane Harvey which made landfall as a category 4 hurricane, becoming a massive and slow-moving tropical storm resulting in historic-levels of flooding. Numerous members of the trans community are displaced and have lost everything.

The fund will assist Gulf Coast trans, intersex, and genderqueer survivors recover from this disaster.

The Texas Gulf Coast trans community is facing a catastrophic and ongoing natural disaster resulting from Hurricane Harvey which made landfall as a category 4 hurricane, becoming a massive and slow-moving tropical storm resulting in historic-levels of flooding. Numerous members of the trans community are displaced and have lost everything.

The Transgender Foundation of America created this disaster relief fund because trans, intersex, and genderqueer individuals have historically experienced significant difficulties in natural disaster situations. Worse, recent attacks by lawmakers have resulted in heightened hostility against local trans people. This fund will be used to help our historically underserved community recover from this catastrophic event. If needed, the fund will also assist with burial costs for community members who’ve lost their lives in this historic disaster.

The Presidential Tweets banning transgender individuals from the U.S. military are disappointing, but not surprising. As with many of the President’s twitter announcements, they are poorly thought out, lacking in fact, and intended entirely for short-term partisan political gain.
Transgender individuals have proudly served in our country’s Military since the earliest days of our nation and will continue to do so. The president’s ban is a ban on open service, not a ban on service.
During the Obama administration, the Defense Department undertook an extensive study of the cost and effect of transgender individuals openly serving in the United States military. The conclusion was that the U.S. Military could easily accommodate open service by transgender individuals and that the cost would be minimal and possibly offset by increased efficiency and reduced mental health problems. This fact based study led to the implementation of policies that encouraged transgender individuals to openly serve in our nation’s armed services.
The President tweeted. “Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail,” These “tremendous medical costs” are much less than one Trump golfing weekend and the “disruption” simply does not exist.
Unfortunately, the Trump policy will have an undeserved negative impact on many transgender individuals who are currently proudly and openly serving their country. All those serving in our military deserve our respect and appreciation. It is disgraceful for the commander in chief to attack those serving under him for purely political reasons. It is these actions of the commander in chief that threaten our nation’s security, not the brave service of transgender individuals.